It’s a fact that most moms are lacking when it comes to spare time. Raising kids is a cumbersome experience, especially when you’re trying to juggle a career with it. Which these days, it seems like every one is. This leaves little room for experimenting with fashion and style so it, for me at least, takes a backseat. But who says moms can’t look good?

I am getting back on the horse.
These are the 4 Fashion Rules for Moms I am following…

#1: Get the Right Fit

One of the key things is wearing clothes that actually fit. I am still carrying some post pregnancy weight that I am working on getting rid of soon. So I am avoiding clothes that are too big for you. Too much of fabric makes me look heavier and I also care less about what I look like which leads to more eating. I’d rather have a slight muffin top (covered of course) so I am reminded to put down the actual muffins.

#2: Go for Comfortable and Stylish Footwear

My shoes are the worst. So this is where I am spending a nit more cash on some trendy looking sneakers that I can exercise in and wear after. I am also pulling out gladiator flats and ballet flats now that the weather is warm.

#3: Buy Clothes that Breathe

When it comes to buying clothes, go for the ones that breathe well and are comfy to wear. And of course are washable. Right from cotton tunics to boot cut jeans, you’ll find that such fabrics are great when it comes to creating a your stylish wardrobe. At times you may also want to go for clothes that are a great choice when you want to wear them both at home and outside. When shopping for such clothes you should check out the promo deals at NerdWallet so that you can save money on your purchases.

#4: Use Trendy Accessories

Want to create a unique/stylish look for yourself with spending gobs of money? Get yourself to Forever 21. It’s my go to spot for trendy accessories. Be it handbags, hats, scarves or even jewelry, you can look and feel trendy without investing a lot of money or time. The latest retail emphasis on jewelry that is bold and bright in color, makes it easy to create a look with absolute minimal effort. All it takes is a bright, thin scarf over a neutrally colored shirt and blue jeans to make through the day looking like my old self.

What are your fashion mom tips?

I know everyone says that they are “that mom” but folks, I really am.

Proof:

• People often stare at me in public
• I get offered parenting advice by strangers and family alike
• Moms avoid me at the playground
• My kids have been uninvited to birthday parties
• We’ve been asked to leave the library
• I regularly forgot diapers when out and about
• My babies have not only been at a bar, they’ve been breastfed at one

Everyone says kids change you. And mine definitely changed me. They made me care way less about what people thought of me. And made me care way less about what other people are doing. Why waste your time concentrating on other people’s lives? Tattoos aren’t my bag, but if they were I would have “F@3K Them” tattooed on my wrist as a reminder that it matters very little what other people think of me and how I am raising my kids. In the end, I know that they are happy, healthy, and loved.

My Strong Mom Manifesto is what was written on the wall of my ECFE classroom in Minnesota.

YOU ARE THE BEST PARENT FOR YOUR CHILD

The day you believe that is the day you are set free from the worry.

Today, I am encouraging you, yes you, to go to Strong Moms Empower and take the pledge.
Not a mom? Pledge to support us “that mom”s who need a friendly smile!

I am participating in a blog campaign with One2One Network. I have not received any payment. All opinions are my own.

Whoa! Blissdom is this week!
How did that happen?

Months ago my friend Claire and I decided to meet up at Blissdom. Since she’s four hours away and I could leave my twins at my parents, it was pretty much perfect. Except I was a little in denial. I think I forgot I was going up until a few weeks ago when Claire pointed out that I could deliver her Girl Scout cookies to her in person. Oh f*@k, that’s right, I am headed to a blogging conference

In the past year I’ve done some amazing stuff through blogging. But I have also been jettisoned from a group that I was super involved with and had a project I was super excited about stall. It was enough to make me feel kind of all “what the hell am I doing in this space?”

Add in some heavy personal stuff happening to close friends and it was enough that I was all “BREAK! I NEED A BREAK!” So I took one for a month and then slowly eased myself back into the game. And here we are, Blissdom Bound. While I am still kind of lost I am excited about some space to figure out what is going on. I am eschewing my typical blogging session and jumping with abandon into the life track sessions. Which just happen to be sponsored by one of my favorite companies Care.com.

But enough about my personal stuff, here’s the nitty gritty…
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For today’s challenge I looked to my “Do It!!” board. There’s no time like the present right?
This pin led me to the post of 1001 books to read before I die. Though I do read fast, I think this may take awhile. Luckily, I’ve read a few. Below the cut is the list with the ones I have read struck through.

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There is a lunch I am looking forward to this week. Not because of the meal, the rare lunch out. Not because of the midday drinking, always treasured. But because of the company. There will be no awkwardness of the blind date of first friend meetings, there will be no question of will she like me, will she want to be my new friend. It will be enough for me just to sit across the table from her and know that she gets it, she gets why I sometimes sit in my car and cry after drop off.

She gets what it is like to be silently struggling in the corner.

This year, the dawning of my daughters’ first in full time school was met with such joy. I didn’t cry tears when I dropped them off. Instead I breathed a silent sigh of relief. I wanted to be free of them for eight hours. I wanted to sit and not have to worry about when the next tantrum is coming, what the next upset will be.

Sometimes I feel like that sense of relief is a bitter seed inside of me, poisoning my attitude. I think people can see it in my face, hear it in my voice, sense it in my soul. I want to cry out to them that I love my children with my whole heart but that there is a part of my that has indeed been broken by it, broken by them.

It’s a double edged sword this world of invisible disabilities. My children will never be stared at because of the way they look. They will never be discriminated against because of what people think they lack. They will never feel the pain of being shunned at first glance for something they can not help.

But they will never be championed for their bravery, for their struggle. There will be no make a wish trips, no ice cream sundae moments to make up for the hard times. And those hard times are there, oh they are there. The pain of my daughter’s face when she can’t break herself of the need to repeat a pattern only she understands… that pain is heart breaking, exquisitely heart breaking.

I want to shake her out of it. Shake her out of the need for that repetition. And sometimes, to my shame, I do take her and shake her. Not hard, not painfully, but it is still shameful because I know it won’t work. That it makes no difference. That if all it took was a shake, she would gladly do it to herself.

So instead, I grit my teeth and don’t give it, don’t change the pattern to accommodate her. Instead I hold her while she cries, and hold back my own tears while I try to comfort her, try to explain why it has to be this way, why she had to try to reorder herself. And I try to ignore the stares of the other parents, try to gloss over there questions of oh is she tired, oh is she hungry because to explain would take a million and one words, none of which I have the power to say.

And i sit in the corner, in the shadows, holding my daughter and looking forward to lunch. With someone else who knows what it’s like to be a shadow too.

As I said in my resolutions post, one thing I want to do this year is actually use Pinterest instead of just pinning things to it. Each month I am concentrating on a resolution and in February, Pinterest is having its day. This month I plan to do one thing I have pinned every day.

Tonight I hit my Blogging Tips and Tricks board and picked this pin linking to this page about making sure your About page is PR friendly. Fun fact: I am anonymously quoted in this blog post.

I spent a bit of time polishing up my About page and updating my PR page. Of course, it’s not as simple as that. I need to add a media kit and put some pictures on the PR page but at least it looks a bit better. Would love your thoughts on both pages if you have a minute!

Will be back tomorrow with a “pinLiving” update!

So not really, though I do feel like emerging from a two week illness is like coming back from the dead. At least online, where life moves a little too fast for me at times. Today has been spent going through a week’s worth of emails and trying to readjust my body to being awake for more than twenty minutes at a time. I think it is going to be a slow recovery. This weekend will be spent resting and feasting. Super Bowl natch.

Can’t say I care who wins, though the Ravens may edge out just because of their name. I am however looking forward to the snacks and commercials. Especially the movie ones. It’s going to be a fun spring at the theater!

Here’s a sneak peek at one I can’t wait to see…

Like OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ozthegreatandpowerful
Follow OZ THE GREAT & POWERFUL on Twitter: https://twitter.com/disneyozmovie
Visit the website: http://www.disney.com/thewizard

game night|craft beer|nut cracking|crafts|almond butter faces

So yea, I realize that 2013 arrived a few weeks back but while people were coming up with inspiring words of the year for themselves I was sitting on the sofa stuffing as much food and alcohol in my mouth before my new and improved new year day date of January 5th.

What can I say? I was born at 8:10pm. I have always liked to be fashionably late.

And then last week was spent crying into my pillow every night because my muscles hurt so much and I couldn’t drink any wine to soothe them. First world problems indeed. But I made it to the other side and here I am writing again on my own little piece of the internet. 2012 was a weird year for me online. I had some incredible highs (speaking at SWSWi and then again at BlogHer, being involved with the Toyota Women) but I finished the year feeling low and discouraged after seeing some not so awesome behavior from people while I was seeing such hard times for people in my life offline.

But as I considered this year and what I wanted from it, I realized that I still wanting blogging to be a part of it. Writing online is modern storytelling to me. And this year, the first year my girls are attending school full time promises to be full of stories.

Every year I make a number of resolutions for the year. What is different this year is that I am committed to following through on them. So here they are…

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